"As per our agreement, if GMR decides to sell, we have the first right," said Jindal who is also the chairman of Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils).

MUMBAI: JSW Sports, which bought its way in into Indian Premier League (IPL) last year by acquiring 50% stake in the Delhi franchise from GMR Group for Rs 550 crore, has brought in multiple changes, including a complete brand refresh and new support staff on board, including CEO.

"The deal closed with GMR on May 1 last year and the handover happened on August 6,” said Parth Jindal, chairman, Delhi Capitals. “This is the first time when we are running the franchise and since taking over, we have been planning on how to revive this team.”

Jindal said till the company is owned 50:50, every two years chairman will change. “I have presented my roadmap to the board and if I achieve the targets, I may be allowed to continue.”

The aim is to win at least nine out of 14 league matches and qualify to the playoffs, he said.

Jindal made multiple changes to the team, starting with the support staff. “Only three key people are retained — coach Ricky Ponting, fast bowling coach James Hopes, and Praveen Ambre, who was batting coach but now is head of talent scout,” he said. “Rest, we have changed entire staff. We have brought in Mohammad Kaif as assistant coach.”

He said the firm “wanted to press the refresh button” because the atmosphere in the team was negative as it had been losing for a long time and a lot of staff was a long timer.

JSW was happy with the young talent the team had, with players like Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw, but felt that it missed experience players and so the team traded three players to get Shikhar Dhawan.

“Now we have the strongest Indian batting line up with an opening pair of Prithvi and Shikhar. We have a good bowling with Ishant Sharma, (Kasigo) Rabada, Lamicchane and others,” Jindal said.

SPONSORS ON BOARDThe steps taken by JSW Sports have helped the team bring 24 sponsors and partners on board. “Our sponsorship is up 20%. We will earn close to Rs 50 crore from sponsorships. We have sold all the jersey sponsorships and there are many first time sponsors, who have worked with JSW Sports’ other teams (kabaddi and football) and with our group companies,” Jindal said.

He accepted that the Delhi franchise fared poorly compared to other teams in sponsorship figures. “We were 30-40% lower than Mumbai Indians last season. But I hope, the big difference will come next year, once the team performs this year and reach at least the playoffs.”

Jindal is also expecting a 30% increase in ticket revenues, an area where Delhi franchise usually does well because of higher number of hospitality tickets. Last year, Delhi Daredevils was third, behind Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, in terms of gate revenues.

Delhi Capitals has already started selling tickets of their matches this year in partnership with Paytm.